


Rings Around

by wynnebat



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Friends to Husbands, M/M, Manipulation, Pining, Pre-Slash, Tom was born in Harry's time AU, according to Harry anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 09:28:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15927599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wynnebat/pseuds/wynnebat
Summary: It takes quite a bit of planning to accidentally marry one's best friend.





	Rings Around

**Author's Note:**

> 88\. “Don’t panic but I think we might have accidentally gotten married…” 
> 
> Prompted by anonymous.

Tom wakes to the sound of creative cursing from somewhere next to him and sunlight attacking his eyelids. For the latter, he can simply pull a pillow over his head, but the former is more of an issue. He reaches out to the other side of the bed, tugging at the closest part of Harry he can reach as he mutters, “Shut up or I’ll shut you up. I’m too hung over to deal.”

“Tom,” Harry replies, sounding more nervous than anyone should at this hour of the morning.

Tom raises his hand just high enough to flip Harry the bird.

“Tom.” More insistent this time, much more like the irritating brat Tom—when forced—calls his best friend.

Still, Tom isn’t dealing with Harry’s existential crisis when he can feel his head on the verge of cracking apart. He manages a feels around for his wand and manages a wordless cooling charm for the room out of sheer, desperate need to feel less like death is creeping over him. The cool air against his skin helps enough that he can move without feeling like he might throw up. Still, that doesn’t mean he plans to move until absolutely necessary. Tom tugs at Harry until his friend relents, curling close to Tom and resting his arm across Tom’s bare waist. Tom doesn’t open his eyes. It’s been too fucking long since he’s been this close to Harry. The last three months have been Ginny this, Ginny that, and Harry’s spare time dwindling until Tom had to content himself with next to nothing.

It shouldn’t be so much of a surprise that he resorted to dubiously ethical methods.

“Awake yet?” Harry eventually asks.

Tom sighs. “No.”

“Good, sounds like a yes—”

Tom can’t believe he has this level of bad taste in men.

“—I’ll just come out and say it, so don’t panic, but I think we might have accidentally gotten married.”

Tom carefully allows his whole body to stiffen and for his grip on Harry to tighten nearly to the point of pain. It’s easy when he thinks of his anger and shock at just how easily Ginny had been able to take Harry away from him. There aren’t many things that have blindsided him over the course of his life. Somehow, Harry always seems to play a role in the majority of those events. Finally, Tom opens his eyes. The first thing he sees is Harry’s green eyes. His best friend hasn’t even put on his glasses yet, which is fine by him. He’s an excellent actor, but it won’t hurt to have Harry thrown off by not being able to see him properly.

Tom glances down at Harry’s hand. The Gaunt ring sits on his finger, its stone large and one of a kind. He reaches for it, fingers brushing Harry’s. Light gold sparks rise from the places where their skin touches: an obvious sign of a marriage bond settling. Tom hides every part of his satisfaction.

“You don’t look like you’re panicking,” Harry says uncertainly.

“I skipped right to being furious,” Tom replies. His voice is cold enough to cut, but Harry is used to Tom’s anger. “What did you do?”

“What did _I_ do, you asshole?” Harry pushes at Tom, sitting upright on the bed. Tom’s grip on his hand holds firm, not allowing him to get any further. Harry has a temper of his own. Tom doesn’t have time to allow Harry to storm off. He needs them on the same page and Harry convinced of his plan before Harry can run off to Ginny. He sits up himself, leaning against the headboard. Harry digs his short nails into Tom’s skin. “I’m not taking any of the blame.”

“I’m not either, considering I barely remember what happened last night,” Tom replies. “I’m blaming it on you because you were the one who encouraged me to drink.”

“I encouraged you to have fun.”

“It was your Weasel’s bachelor party, I don’t know why you’d expect me to have fun. You should be grateful I even deigned to show up.” Tom is already considering an elaborate wedding gift to give his thanks for an excuse to put his plan into motion. He furrows his brow as if thinking hard. “I don’t remember participating in the marriage ritual. We danced together. Ron said something idiotic as he is prone to do.”

“Something about not cheating on his sister,” Harry says with a huff. “As if I would.” It dawns on him, panic entering his expression as he says, “Does getting drunk-married count as cheating on her? We didn’t, um...”

“No, we didn’t,” Tom confirms. “We’re not nude, and I doubt I had the mental capacity to clean and dress the both of us after... I can’t remember.” Sex would have strengthened their marriage bond, but in the minuscule chance that Harry one day realizes Tom’s deception, he would be furious. And in all honesty, Tom wants Harry when he can tease out Harry’s reactions and prove to him without a shadow of a doubt that he doesn’t need Ginny in his life, not a drunken hookup that Harry would spend pointless time and energy regretting. “The bachelor party left for the next bar, but you wanted one more drink.”

Harry nods slowly. “I remember drinking, but it’s all a blur. You kept up with me nearly drink for drink. I dared you to, didn’t I?”

“I had to uphold my honor.” As though Tom has any left by this point. He hadn’t expected the difference between manipulating everyone else and manipulating Harry. It’s not as though he hadn’t manipulated his friend before, but it has been years. By now, Tom doesn’t bother. If it’s something that he can’t argue Harry into doing, he just has someone else do it instead. It’s better than dealing with Harry’s winging when he realizes the truth. “You wanted some air, so we left, and...” He frowns. “Eventually we ended up in a room over the Leaky Cauldron.”

“Is that where we are?” Harry asks, glancing around. “I wondered.”

Tom shrugs. “I’ve stayed here before. Do you remember anything else?”

“No,” Harry admits, rubbing at his forehead. He pulls his hand out of Tom’s grip to massage his temples. “It’s all confusing. Why did we get married instead of streaking across Diagon Alley or something?”

Because Tom had suggested it in a way that Harry would find funny instead of concerning. Harry is an amusing sort of drunk, cheerful and more easily convinced of bad decisions. When combined with Ron, the two of them would drive McGonagall herself to drink back in their Hogwarts days. When Tom is in the picture, it’s the best time to take advantage of Harry’s loose inhibitions. “I imagine we took inspiration from Ron.”

“I guess,” Harry says.

Tom reaches for his wand on the counter and says, “ _Accio_ Harry’s glasses.”

They fly into his left hand. Instead of handing them to Harry, Tom opens them and slips them onto his friend, tucking the curved ends behind his ears. “So that you don’t poke your eye out,” he explains.

“Screw you and thank you,” Harry replies. “Alright, how are we dissolving the marriage bond?”

“We’re not,” Tom promptly says, barreling through Harry’s immediate denial. “The registry office automatically records the ritual being performed. We are already married on record and I will not allow anyone to believe I would do something so asinine as get married by accident. I have a political career to think of.”

“I have a girlfriend to think of,” Harry says in reply, as though that’s in any way equivalent.

“You have been dating her for three months. I’ve been working toward becoming minister of magic one day for my entire life. I will not allow this to ruin everything for me.” In reality, it would set him back, but with a few bribes, Tom could make sure no one remembered their marriage certificate ever appearing. But he doesn’t want that. He wants Harry, his utterly irritating best friend, bound to him so tightly that he forgets Ginny’s name. It’s a disgusting cliche, the fact that Tom hadn’t realized his feelings for Harry until Harry entered his first serious relationship. Others had been there before Ginny, but not so much that they took Harry’s attention away from Tom.

Tom had seriously considered simply arranging an accident for the woman, but he doesn’t want Harry mourning her for the rest of his life. He wants her to realize her place, to be as insignificant as she actually is instead of becoming someone Harry values.

Tom swallows and meets Harry’s green eyes. He hates those eyes for reducing him to this, but it is done. He hasn’t been able to cleave Harry from his heart, so he will find a way to keep him. “Please. Just—” He can’t force himself to keep going. _Please understand me in this like in everything else._

“Okay,” Harry caves with a sigh. He gives Tom that look of his, the one that says ‘if you were anyone else...’ “For how long? Because I’m not agreeing to forever.”

Tom hopes that one day, Harry will. But for now, “One year. I won’t ask much from you. All you have to do is meet with me in public a few times a month to affirm that we have a successful marriage. As your husband, I will take on the duty of improving your wardrobe so that you will not be embarrassed to be seen in your usual attire.”

“I’ll show you embarrassed,” Harry mutters. “And I’m not kissing you in public.”

“I have little interest in public displays of affection,” Tom says smoothly. Affection will come slowly, so as not to alarm Harry any further. “Our story will be that we have been privately dating for years, but did not want to reveal our relationship to the public until we were sure it would last. For those who knew of your and Ginny’s relationship, you can tell them that you and her were not particularly serious, and broke up prior to a whirlwind romance between you and me.” It works in Tom’s favor that few people had been aware of the relationship between Harry and Ginny. With Ginny an international quidditch player, they’d tried to keep their relationship out of the public eye as much as possible. Hardly anyone would know of their romance.

“And Ginny herself?” Harry asks, a challenge to his tone.

Ginny can burn in a volcano for all that Tom cares. He can’t manage to keep all of his annoyance out of his voice as he says, “Tell her the truth, if you’d like.”

“I will, but I doubt Ginny would want to be my dirty secret for a year,” Harry says with a sigh. “Fuck. My first serious relationship and I ruin it by getting hitched to someone else. You’re supposed to be the rational one in our friendship, Tom.”

He is. Or at least, he used to be. It’s all Harry’s fault. “I’m rationally fixing this problem.” With a wave of his hand, Tom concedes only to, “We can sort out the finer details after we purchase some hangover potions.” The motion brings his attention again to the ring around Tom’s own finger. Tom’s hand bears James Potter’s wedding ring, which Harry has worn on a chain around his neck along with Lily’s. He’s had the rings the entire time Tom has known him, ever since his parents and godparents were senselessly murdered by a former friend. A rush of something primal flows through him as he admires the way an integral part of Harry is wrapped around his finger. Still, he forces himself to say, “Do you want this back? I won’t allow you to ruin my public image, but if you prefer, I can choose a different ring for myself. I know what this one means to you.”

Harry pauses for a moment to think, but eventually he shakes his head. “It’ll make for a better story, which I’m sure you already realized. Just take care of it, please.”

“I will,” Tom promises. He has no intention of taking it off. Not even once a year passes.

“Do _you_ want to switch?”

“No,” Tom replies. “It’s yours.”

Harry nods, twisting the ring around his finger. It looks good on him, the gold lovely against his skin and the dark stone gleaming. With more curiosity than suspicion, Harry asks, “Why did you even have the Gaunt ring with you last night?”

“I picked it up that morning from Darkest Jewelers that morning,” Tom replies. It’s completely true, the better to give credence to his story. “It was in dire need of professional cleaning after decades of grime building up in the grooves.”

“I still say you could’ve used a cleaning charm.”

“The jeweler said otherwise,” Tom replies smugly.

Harry’s responding glare is the image of petulance. But a smile pries its way through, and with a sigh he says, “Alright, husband. Let’s get those hangover potions.”

Husband. It’s said lightly, but as Tom watches Harry rise to get dressed, he promises himself that by the end of the year, Harry will truly mean the word. He refuses to live in a world where Harry does otherwise. It will be a year of careful seduction, but Tom considers himself up to the task.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I'm also on [tumblr](https://crownwithoutstones.tumblr.com/).


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